Carole Perry

Cave Creek, Arizona

"The surprise explosion of color and texture in my work allows me to capture someone's eye, then lead them into a need for tactile reinforcement almost immediately. It is a heady experience to know that each time someone reaches out to touch a glass tapestry, I have knocked on his or her soul with my work."

Carole's glass "Tapestries" are free-formed glass sculptures that capture the look of textiles, complete with delicate fringe-like edges; they are created with cane (glass threads), cut, and then "woven" on the kiln shelf. At least nine layers deep, each sculpture requires a careful arrangement of more than 5,000 threads. Next, the piece is heated slowly to nearly 1500 degrees. In the final phase, when the piece has "struck" and reached the proper color, opacity, and viscosity, it is briefly removed from the kiln and worked into its ultimate shape. The absence of a mold and the very limited time available for shaping (15 seconds or less) ensures that each piece is unique.

Carole studied glass-making at Philabaum Glass Studio in Tucson, Arizona, Camp Colton Vitreous Group in Colton, Oregon, and at the University of Redlands in California. A native of southern Oregon, Carole Perry works out of her desert studio in Arizona. Prior to pursuing her passion for glass, she had a very successful career in the computer industry. She explains, "I ran after the executive brass ring for twenty years before admitting it could never hold the same sparkle as the glass art I'd been collecting for almost as many years. My idols are Chihuly, Marquis, and Brock; while I enjoyed everyday of my twenty plus years with IBM and Xerox, nothing could prepare me for the sheer joy of creating a piece of glass sculpture. Finding my own way, without any set procedures, has felt like the equivalent of discovering the New World. Learning to live off of my own feedback, with no measuring stick beyond my own personal standards, has been the most rewarding experience of my life." —Carole Perry